Spotlight on imaging

Brain imaging can reveal a great deal about who we are and what is going inside our heads. But how far can – and should – this research take us? Julia Gottwald and Barbara Sahakian, authors of Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans: How fMRI Reveals What Really Goes on in our Minds, investigate for The Conversation.

Cambridge scientists have received two of the biggest funding grants ever awarded by Cancer Research UK, with the charity set to invest £40 million over the next five years in two ground-breaking research projects in the city.

The Magellanic Clouds, the two largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, appear to be connected by a bridge stretching across 43,000 light years, according to an international team of astronomers led by researchers from the University of Cambridge. The discovery is reported in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) and is based on the Galactic stellar census being conducted by the European Space Observatory, Gaia.

The next generation of imaging technology, newly installed at the University of Cambridge, will give researchers an unprecedented view of the human body – in particular of the myriad connections within our brains and of tumours as they grow and respond to treatment – and could pave the way for development of treatments personalised for individual patients.

From middle-age, the brains of obese individuals display differences in white matter similar to those in lean individuals ten years their senior, according to new research led by the University of Cambridge. White matter is the tissue that connects areas of the brain and allows for information to be communicated between regions.

A tree the height of 20 London double-decker buses has been discovered in Malaysia by conservation scientists monitoring the impact of human activity on the biodiversity of a pristine rainforest. The tree, a Yellow Meranti, is one of the species that can be grown in the computer game Minecraft.

Observation of the point at which proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease become toxic to brain cells could help identify how and why people develop the disease, and aid in the search for potential treatments.

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Imaging

From visualising microscopic cells to massive galaxies, imaging is a core tool for many research fields today, and it’s also the basis of a surge in recent technical developments – some of which are being pioneered in Cambridge.

Much of the excitement around imaging is linked to its remarkably cross-disciplinary nature. IMAGES, a group of developers and users of imaging and analysis tools, is helping these researchers to work together.

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